


Even Heroes Fall

by Kitexa



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Cuban Missile Crisis, Drabble, F/M, Gen, M/M, Major Character Injury, Other, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-02-10
Packaged: 2018-01-11 19:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1177243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitexa/pseuds/Kitexa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles cared too much for those undeserving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even Heroes Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt. And because these two break my heart.

It's true what they say.

When the hero falls, everything turns to white noise.

Charles had been a hero. Her hero. From the very beginning, and for so long after. She wondered at times if he'd forgotten how she cared. How she'd stand by him, up for him when the situation arose. How this... this struggle for self-drive would not have been without his help.  That sense of family, security, love she'd not known before wandering into his life. Even confidence, though he'd never quite been able to give her what she wanted. 

_It should have been enough._

It wasn't.She'd pestered and prodded and pried trying so damn HARD to turn his head--make him see let him KNOW she'd grown up, grown into herself, she wasn't a helpless child anymore.  She could be all he wanted if he'd just opened his eyes--

... but he didn't, not soon enough, not the same way and Raven.. Raven pushed too far. She stormed out--she remembers now-- in a huff of scales and wily hair.  Charles didn't want her, fine. Let his studies swallow him up.

_Idiot girl. You should have known better._

... yes. She should have. Where Raven was brash and impulsive, Charles leaned towards serenity. Where she held a grudge, he forgave. A saint, some called him. A revolutionist-to-be. Some might say, sure... she begged to differ. If Charles Xavier held any claim it would be a bleeding heart. He cared too much for those undeserving. 

"Charles!" Raven cries, dropping to her knees the moment the telepath fell. Amber eyes blew to their full extent, horror freezing her heart still.   
"Charles-- no- NO!" 

Hissing and coughing and eyes wetting with tears, Xavier looks up at her, relief etched into paling features.

"You're safe" he murmurs and if she hadn't learned to tread water long ago the statement would have pulled her under.

"You.. you dummy.." Sniffs the shape-shifter, guiding his head to her lap. She avoids his blood-stained abdomen, fixed on his face. It bares but traces of her oversight, free from the bullet lodged somewhere in his gut. She knows it is; pierced concentration is a pitiful cover for telepathy. "You know I-I can heal, why..."

"S-Sorry." Charles groans, chewing his lip raw. "Couldn't--nnh-- couldn't bare the thought of you, hurt." Best efforts fail him, crying freely with the last word. She'd like to think it came with valiance; her knight in striped pajamas come to rescue her, once more.

This is different.

This is.. this carelessness (it is, despite what he says) and... and pain. Agonized pain that nearly makes her ill. She can't imagine how it must be, first hand.

"Charles.." She squeaks, unaware she, too, bares tear tracks until a gloved hand pulls away with soggy fingertips.

"D...don't." He groans, settling over his chest. "Please, Raven, don't cry..."

He always was the pot calling black the kettle.

"Shut up" drops from her mouth, raising her head. They're already on their way: Erik in front, a wild fear frozen in his features, Moira on his heels. The boys linger back, Hank--blue and beastly Hank-- barreling towards the jet-- _good idea, Hank, get help he needs help please..._

The others descend with a violent fervor: before she knows what's happened, Charles rises, tucked tight in the arms of the frantic metal-bender. 

"Hank!" He rasps, and following his voice she notes McCoy's head, a radio pressed to his ear.

A hand cuts her vision; tracing it back to Moira. Raven is betterstrongertougher than the ordinary--exceptional and all those things but right now it doesn't matter. Right now Charles is hurt, badly hurt. "T-thanks." Utters Raven as she's pulled upright. Moira nods, then hustles after Erik. 

Raven wonders if she notices the the trail they leave behind. Scattered, disturbed by hastening footprints, but there, still, and frighteningly real. A morbid reminder she can't run away. There's nowhere to go but hostile seas and unfamiliar vegetation. 

_'Raven?'_

Hysterics pause, recognizing Charles' feeble call. Even now, she's still his primary concern. 

_'C...coming.'_ She sends back and then she does, one leaded step at a time.

He'll be alright-- he WILL be alright-- their story hasn't ended yet, he's got to be alright...

 


End file.
